Winter Photography in Scotland?

Hi,

I'm getting married in Scotland this coming winter, and I wanted

some photo ideas from those of you who may live or travel there.

We'll probably be confined to the Lothian and South/West Highlands

due to time. My fiancee and I both love history, so we're planning

to see as many sites as we can. Thanks!

 

Dan

Go to Rannoch Moor near Glen Coe if you can. Stunning landscapes.

 

See my Scotland portfolio: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=461263

If you scroll to the bottom of the Travel Forum and look under UK there are several suggestions for Scotland inluding Hadrian's Wall. Wish I was going too but three's a crowd.

Dear Dan,

 

The shooting day is very short: the sun rises in the late morning, hops over a tree, and sets again in the early afternoon. My father has lived in Scotland for the last 25 years or so and we used to spend Christmas there sometimes, but it's DARK!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

You will need a quick lens to catch the famous haggis though !

 

Seriously,there are some very informative sites about sights and good guides as well.Good research and "cross referencing" will give you lots and lots to cover.

If you are in Lothian Edinburgh has a lot of potential and a lot of places off the tourist trail like the Grassmarket are quite interesting.

If you get to the west coast I would recomend towards Bute and Tignabruaich if there is sun, but the problem in winter will be poor weather and the day only goes from 10 to 3.

Hi all. This is my first post, so I DO hope it works!

 

I stay in Edinburgh, so I can give some further details. Here goes:

 

December daylight is about 9.30am to 3.30pm, but will usually be grey and flat. You will get some nice, bright days if you're lucky, but this is out of the ordinary.

 

Historical stuff in Edinburgh - two castles (Edinburgh and Craigmillar), some historical houses (The Georgian House, Lauriston Castle - actually a Victorian house), several historical churches, the medieval old town, the Georgian new town.

 

Historical stuff near Edinburgh - more castles, houses and churches.

 

Please feel free to PM me for further details.

 

Thanks

The west is somewhat more likely to be wet & cloudy than the east, but it's pretty likely to

be that way in both of them. And as others have said - the days are short and dark.

Photography in Scotland in December is a rare event, especially landscape photography.

I spent a week in Glasgow last year, and although it rained most of the time, there were a couple days when it was dry and clear during the daytime. They have a good public transportation system, so getting around is very convenient. Just outside of Edinburg, you can visit the intriguing Rosslyn Chapel that was described in details in Dan Brown's (now controversial) book.<div></div>

Don't try looking for Hadrians wall though. Walls End is about 60 miles south of the border. Edinborough is excellent and just outside the city is the Forth Bridge at South Queensferry. The Tweed Valley is worth an outing and just across the border is Berwick on Tweed, which is about as pretty a place as you could want to visit. If you have time to head north, go for the great glenn and Loch Ness.

Dan,

You simply can not go wrong with Scotland(with some blue skies especially).

Isle of Skye is a dreamy place. Edinburgh also is fantastic.

Roads are narrow and tyring sometimes but worth driving..

Some samples:

http://uk.geocities.com/e.kuscu@btopenworld.com/Scotland.html

Good luck!

I'd certainly second the suggestion for Rannoch Moor and Glencoe, which is usually about a 2 hour drive north of Glasgow/ 2.5 hrs north-west of Edinburgh.

 

You'll need to keep an eye on road conditions though, and expect the roads to be icy. The ice in the photograph below didn't melt in my stay one February and its possible that you'll need to let conditions dictate where you can reasonably go to get the best trade off between driving comfort and scenic drama.

 

Also if you want to stay in Glencoe/Rannoch Moor (and staying nearby has an advantage since as someone's said, the days are short) you won't have copious choice of accommodation. The Kings House hotel on the moor is perfectly situated but gourmets don't venture there and even the rooms are kind of bleak.

 

If by any chance the weather defeats you you might want to try the Trossachs area not far north of Glasgow; round Lochs Lomond, Katrine etc and including the villages of Callender and Aberfoyle.